When must I file a motion for attorney’s fees in federal district court?

Unless a statute or court order provides otherwise, file the Rule 54(d)(2) attorney’s fee motion no later than 14 days after judgment entry. Establish entry under Rule 58(c) first. A fee motion does not automatically delay judgment or extend appeal time.

Responsible actor. A party seeking attorney’s fees and related nontaxable expenses by motion.

Read the judgment, civil docket and any required separate judgment document. Opinion signing or receipt does not itself establish entry.

Under Rule 58(c), where a separate document is required, entry requires civil-docket entry and the earlier of the separate document or 150 days after docket entry.

Rule 58(a)(3) separately removes the separate-document requirement for an order disposing of the fee motion itself. Do not confuse that order with the underlying judgment.

Use the ordinary Rule 54(d)(2) district-court fee motion. Fees proved at trial as an element of damages and excluded sanctions procedures are different requirements.

1. Establish the actor, procedure and operative trigger.
2. Exclude the trigger day and count the prescribed calendar days.
3. Apply final-day weekends, legal holidays and established inaccessibility.
4. Verify filing, any separately required service, and actual case directions.

Exclude the established trigger day. Count every calendar day. Move a final Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday to the next qualifying day in the counting direction. No service addition applies to this trigger.

The bundled national holiday calendar supports 2026 and 2027. Count intermediate weekends and holidays. Check additional presidential or congressional holidays, state holidays where the applicable rule includes them, actual clerk inaccessibility and case orders. The calculator does not infer those facts.

Fictitious example

Fictitious ordinary facts establish the independently established judgment entry under frcp 58(c) on August 3, 2026. No exception, different order, local holiday or actual inaccessibility applies.

Fictitious established facts. These examples do not establish the applicable procedure, operative event, valid claim, admissible evidence, granted relief or completed filing and service.

Different statute or court order

Rule 54(d)(2)(B) expressly allows a different statute or court order. Check the actual fee provision and scheduling directions before using the default.

Fees as trial damages

Rule 54(d)(2)(A) excludes fees that substantive law requires to be proved at trial as an element of damages.

Sanctions exclusions

Rule 54(d)(2)(E) excludes fee claims as sanctions under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or 28 USC 1927 from subparagraphs A through D.

Motion contents

Specify the judgment and statute, rule or other entitlement grounds. State the amount or a fair estimate. Disclose agreement terms if the court orders.

Appeal time needs a separate order

Rule 58(e) ordinarily prohibits delaying judgment or extending appeal time for fees. A timely fee motion has the special appeal effect only if the court orders it within that rule’s conditions.

Possible extension

Rule 6(b)(1) supplies its good-cause and post-expiry excusable-neglect standards. Rule 54 fee motions are not in Rule 6(b)(2)’s prohibited list. Relief is not automatic.

• Use the ordinary Rule 54(d)(2) district-court fee motion. Fees proved at trial as an element of damages and excluded sanctions procedures are different requirements.
• The ordinary district-court motion has a fixed 14-day period after operative judgment entry. The docket, separate-document requirement, governing statute and actual orders must be established independently.

• Establish the underlying judgment’s operative Rule 58(c) entry.
• Check the governing fee statute, order and applicable local procedure.
• Identify the judgment, entitlement grounds and amount or fair estimate.
• Verify service and accepted district-court filing.
• Review the appeal clock separately and preserve any actual Rule 58(e) order.
• FRCP 6(a)(4) ordinarily ends electronic filing at midnight in the court’s time zone and other filing at scheduled clerk closing. A statute, local rule or order can set a different time. Preserve the accepted filing receipt. Sending a paper is not proof of its filing.